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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27771472">The Boy Who Waited</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/makethemremember/pseuds/makethemremember'>makethemremember</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Doctor &amp; The Boy Who Waited [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005), 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Doctor Who Fusion, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Nothing Inappropriate Happens in This Fic, Pre-Slash, Time Travel, Wei Wuxian as The Doctor, kid Lán Zhàn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:22:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,355</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27771472</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/makethemremember/pseuds/makethemremember</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’m going to tell you a story, Lan Zhan. The story of the Universe.”</p><p>The Doctor pauses and begins.</p><p>“The sky is filled with a million million planets, all like the one we’re standing on at this moment. Every one of ‘em has beings. Living beings. Like you and me. And every single one of them is different. Special. Burning bright like candles. And the best of them, the <br/><em>most special.</em><br/>They burn for the people around them. Wherever they go and whoever they touch get to feel their warmth. Their comfort, their hugs, their love. Do you remember your mother’s love?”<br/> <br/>The boy nods.</p><p>—</p><p>Or kneeling outside a house surrounded by flowers, Lan Zhan is visited by a man from the stars</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī &amp; Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Doctor &amp; The Boy Who Waited [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031703</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>97</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Boy Who Waited</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title from Doctor Who. But also it perfectly describes Lan Wangji, who waited for the people he loves.</p><p>A thousand thank you’s and blessings to Missyriver for being a fantastic beta and helping make this story 10000% better.</p><p>Couple of things, for non-Doctor Who fans. You should know that The Doctor is an alien from a race called the Time Lords and he’s over a thousand years old. </p><p>Considering Wangji is about five in this fic, respect that this is not a slash fic by any means.</p><p>Also, Weeping Angels are a predatory race that can only move when your eyes are not on them. Essentially, don’t blink.</p><p>Lastly, the Tardis is the Doctor’s time traveling spaceship. And yes, it has a conscious.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The quiet is deafening, a silence so fraught even the wind dare not ruffle the trees. The famed GusuLan peace widely regarded across the many Sects. Tonight it quells restlessness as though the very ground has been recruited into a meditative state. </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And for a small figure kneeling in a foot of snow, it promises anonymity. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy remains as unmoving as stone etched into the pale white of the mountain. Back straight and head bowed, the sculpture of ice and jade allows the silence to keep him. His figure is placid, immovable, betrayed only by a silent trail of tears and the remnants of his footprints fading with the light of the Winter Sun.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He should not be here. He knows. The elders have said. His Uncle has said. Brother has said. And yet hope curls, determined and steadfast within his body. A fierce love. A desperation. A plea. He begins to appeal to the Universe. He begins to chant.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Mother, please open the door</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A fierce love.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Mother, please open the door.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A desperation</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Someone, please help me.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A cry for help.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Mother, please open the door.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And like a prayer, the boy sends his wish up to the stars.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Someone, please.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And like a dream, the Universe answers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aiya! This Tardis of mine. Never taking me where I want but always taking me where I need! Where, oh where, have you taken me this time?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor loosens his grip on the main console unit. All around him, the Tardis smokes and clucks and hisses and the Doctor understands </span>
  <em>
    <span>Tardis-speak</span>
  </em>
  <span> well enough to know pushing further would be to his extreme detriment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor sighs. He looks up at the screen and notes the when and where of his current predicament. Earth. China. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ancient China</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lovely. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had just finished keeping peace in the Andromeda Galaxy and was about to finally, </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally, </span>
  </em>
  <span>visit with the Great Ood when his temperamental, timey-wimey, Blue Box decided to fly off into the mercy of space and time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, my dear,” the Doctor pats the console, “I suppose it is as good a time as any to have a lap around the premises. Don’t wait up!” The Tardis flares, warning with an indignant crack, but the Doctor is already out the door, laughing merrily.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first thing he registers is cold. Shivering cold. Unbearable cold! And he’s orbited a Cold Star on a ship with no heat!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The second thing he registers is a statue in the middle of the snow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A statue that had summoned a Tardis from half-a-galaxy away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor frowns. What statue could remain so white under the duress of the natural elements? He ponders. A statue of marble? Perhaps, but in Ancient China? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unless, of course, it was not from Ancient China. Unless it was a statue that could time travel. Unless it was a Weeping Angel that had somehow been blasted far into the past.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He scoffs. Interest piqued, he draws closer to the statue, eyes unblinking. Folding his red and black trench coat closer to his chest against the offending white powder. He nears the statue and kneels down to look upon its face. Such a sad face. He gets within a hairsbreadth of it, and then the statue blinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a </span>
  <em>
    <span>yelp</span>
  </em>
  <span>, the Doctor jumps back in surprise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The statue is alive! It moved without him blinking! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello there!” The Doctor greets.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The living statue, which had apparently been ignoring his existence until now goes impossibly more rigid. The statue turns minutely in his direction and bows in greeting, before returning to its vigil.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Huh. A living statue that engages in platitudes? Definitely not a Weeping Angel. Those impolite bastards. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Intrigued, the Doctor pulls out his sonic flute and goes about examining the living statue. He plays a few notes and somehow that gets its attention because it looks up sharply. And...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A boy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A boy sitting in the snow in front of a house surrounded by flowers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A boy who had broken his incredible impersonation of a statue at the sound of his flute.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A boy that hadn’t so much as twitched a muscle at a strange man falling out of the sky in a great blue box, talking cheerfully and wielding a magic flute.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Very interesting.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello there!” He tries again. “My name is The Doctor, what is yours?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Excessive noise is forbidden in the Cloud Recesses.” The boy speaks for the first time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor is </span>
  <em>
    <span>charmed.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pardon me! Pardon me! This humble Doctor begs your forgiveness. As you see, I am a dashing newcomer. I know not of your ways and the rules you speak of! The Cloud Recesses, you say? Is this your home then? What is it like here? Is it common practice to leave adorable little boys to fend for themselves in the cold? Ah, little boy you really shouldn’t be outside by yourself. With no coat I might add! At this rate, you’ll be an ice statue on the hour. Come, come! We should return to my box, it’s larger on the inside! I swear, Scout’s honor! But first we should be acquainted, I can’t very well invite just any little statue into my home! So, what will it be? Will you tell me your name?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy stares. He says nothing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor huffs. Really this young master really is too much! “Ah. Ah. My poor hearts. My feelings. You wound me, dear young friend. I’ve traveled across the Universe just to see you! From the stars and heavens above, but will you not show me some face?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At this, the boys face scrunches. “Lying is forbidden in the Cloud Recesses.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh my!</span>
  </em>
  <span> The Doctor thinks, </span>
  <em>
    <span>this boy is really too cute! </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lying? Who was lying? Surely, you don’t mean me! I’ve never lied in my life! I really am from the stars above. My dear boy! Hmm, let me see. How to prove it.” The Doctor contemplates, tapping his nose, “Oh, yes I know! Young master, how many hearts does a human have?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy’s eyes narrow. The boy replies. “One.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ah, yes finally, </span>
  </em>
  <span>the Doctor thinks, </span>
  <em>
    <span>a response that isn’t a rule. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is very true! But would you believe me if I said that I have two hearts? If I had two hearts, I really couldn’t be from this place, could I?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy nods, reluctantly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor beams. He opens a pocket in his coat and rumages, “Aiya! These pockets! I never should have made them bigger on the inside. I can never find what I need when I need it. Oh look! My screwdriver. Gave that up years ago.” After traversing through two other pockets, the Doctor finally emerges with a strange metal wiring. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dear friend, this will let you listen to your heart. Just put these in your ears and press the end to your chest.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy, ever skeptical, complies. He finds his heart and nods at the steady beat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Slowly, the Doctor takes the boy’s wrist holding the end of the metal wire and presses it over his first heart. When the boy nods, he slides the end of the metal wire over his chest to hover over his second heart.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a moment, the boy’s eyes widen in awe.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor carefully lets go of the boy’s wrist. He looks at the boy and smiles. “Do you believe me now, young friend?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy nods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Will you tell me your name, then?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Another nod. And then, “Lan Zhan.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor’s smile blooms into a full grin. “Lan Zhan! It’s wonderful to meet you.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy’s features soften.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lan Zhan. Would you like to see magic from the stars?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy nods, emphatically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor chuckles. He brings his sonic flute to his lips and plays a jaunty series of notes. He spreads a low-level telepathic field on the snow and then puts the flute back at his belt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lan Zhan, what is your favorite animal?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lan Zhan is hesitant. He’s quiet for another moment. Before he can reply, the doctor puts a hand up. “Instead of telling me, Lan Zhan. Why don’t you show me?” the Doctor smiles, “here like this, picture your favorite animal, and now, think of your animal as made of snow! Yes! Now picture the snow in front of you as that animal.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All at once, the snow in front of the boy collects into a fluffy rabbit-shaped figure! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy gasps, delighted. A smile breaking across his face. He goes to touch the rabbit and frowns as the figure dissolves. The Doctor feels himself melt with the snow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Lan Zhan! You can try again. But first, you need a coat! I will be back from my box in a matter of moments. I hope to see what you can come up with when I return!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With that, the Doctor picks himself up and runs into his box. The console continues whirring but the Doctor has a child to tend, so he rushes in and out, grabbing the largest coat he can find. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Upon his return, the Doctor is met with the most peculiar sight. The clearing is filled with rabbits, poking out of the snow at every angle. The Doctor laughs, and makes his way to the kneeling boy. He drapes the dark blue coat over his shoulders and seats himself on the dry patch he’d created before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Amazing! Spectacular! Lan Zhan! So many rabbits! And all of them adorable. I must ask though, why rabbits of all animals?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy meets his eyes. Shy. He looks down and says, “they are soft.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ah, his poor hearts. The Doctor just might require a transplant before the night is over. He lets Lan Zhan play a while longer. Enjoys his happiness until the boy once again falls still and gazes at the house surrounded by flowers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lan Zhan.” He begins. “I came here because someone made a wish, a very good wish, and my magic blue box wished it to be so.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy keeps still.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Was that someone you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A nod.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What did you wish for, Lan Zhan?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“For my Mother to open the door.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The doctor waves his flute in the direction of the house. As he feared, no sign of life. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A horrible truth claws at his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could have left, he reasons. Lan Zhan’s Mother could have been elsewhere. But he knows better. Hours had passed, no one had come. No one could explain to Lan Zhan. That his Mother could no longer open that door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, the Doctor is angry and hopelessly, hopelessly sad.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This boy has stood outside, pleading with the earnest devotion of a child. An impossible boy, who pulled a man and his box across time and space with the strength of his love. And in all this time, no one has come to claim him. How many nights had he kneeled in front of this house? Would no one explain grief to a frightened child?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A boy who would wait. More patient than the moon and the stars. A boy possessed by a true devotion. An unconditional love. The Tardis had answered a call for help. From a boy whose deepest wish was to see his Mother one more time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Death is an old companion of the Doctor’s. The Doctor braces himself. There is no one in the multiverse who understands grief quite like he does. A Time Lord. The last of the Time Lords. The very last of his kind. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looks at the boy in front of him. And he tells him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy is impossibly young. He should not understand the anguish of loss, but he does. The Doctor observes and he sees a maelstrom of emotions play across the boy’s face. Hurt. Confusion. Sadness. Loneliness.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’s gone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy says. The boy understands. The weight of knowledge cracks the boy and he slumps on the ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor feels his hearts break for the boy who waited. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why did she leave me behind?” The boy asks. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor scoots closer and looks the boy in the eye.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to tell you a story, Lan Zhan. The story of the Universe.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor pauses and begins.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The sky is filled with a million million planets, all like the one we’re standing on at this moment. Every one of ‘em has beings. Living beings. Like you and me. And every single one of them is different. Special. Burning bright like candles. And the best of them, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>most special</span>
  </em>
  <span>. They burn for the people around them. Wherever they go and whoever they touch get to feel their warmth. Their comfort, their hugs, their love. Do you remember your mother’s love?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy nods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s fantastic! Listen. Because you have a very important job. The light of a candle is so beautiful because it burns brightly. But no candle burns forever. It’s our privilege to bask in their presence for as long as we get to. Until it’s our turn to pass on the warmth they gave us.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor points to the boy’s chest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right here, her love burns. It hurts right now, but it won't always hurt. Her love was something so unimaginably big and precious. How could it not leave its mark? She didn’t leave you alone Lan Zhan. This gift. To love and to be loved in return, it is the very reason we exist. The most important, the most fundamental thing in the universe. The most sacred. Lan Zhan. Will you love and allow yourself to be loved in return? Will you share your warmth?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The boy clutches his chest. A moment passes, the night is still. Then, with the smallest of movements, the boy nods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And for the first time that night, his shoulders rise and fall with gentle sobs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Slowly, the boy reaches out and the Doctor folds him into his embrace. Rubbing his back and chasing the chill away. The wind moves gently through the clearing, a soft caress in the night. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor adjusts his legs in the snow and feels only warmth.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don’t know yet if this will be a series, maybe the Doctor and the Boy Who Waited have more adventures in store.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p>thanks for reading</p><p>tweet me <a href="https://twitter.com/mt_remember/status/1341654356706222080?s=21">@mt_remember</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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